This week on “The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2014” we see why the Michigan-Michigan State game took on a special meaning for longtime friends Gary Harris of the Spartans and Zak Irvin of the Wolverines. The new episode debuts Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET right after the Iowa-Illinois game on BTN/BTN2Go (full schedule here).

OK, are you as confused as I am? This week of upsets has turned the conference on its side and trashed most everything I thought I knew about the Big Ten. Penn State wins at Ohio State, Northwestern prevails at Wisconsin, and Nebraska dumps Indiana. And the Big Ten standings speak to that. But, hey, Michigan just keeps on winning. So, there’s a constant. Michigan State, too.

KenPom’s game probabilities gave Northwestern just a five percent chance of winning at Wisconsin, and it didn’t like Penn State’s chances of winning at Ohio State much better (nine percent). In one of the unlikeliest nights of Big Ten basketball you’ll ever see, both road underdogs pulled the upset, an outcome that had a combined probability of less than half a percent.

The Big Ten is more balanced than ever right now. I love it because every game is an adventure. Is this good for the conference? Will the teams eat each other up and bring down the number of teams that get into the NCAA tournament?

The arrival of the Super Bowl means many things to many people. Ro-tel and Velveeta dip … the end of the most wonderful time of the year … spring is approaching. For me, it means we basically are at the halfway point of the Big Ten hoop season.

Michigan State pulled out an impressive overtime win at Iowa despite the continued absence of Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson. The gritty win was all about defense for the Spartans, as they held one of the nation’s top offenses to 1.01 points per trip at home.